i did larkin last year- its strange at first but then you see that similar themes can be picked out of the poems- i liked Livings- these are my notes on it.....
- it is tryptich- ie 3 parts
- the three parts are v different
- part one written from the view point of a salesman in 1929, it is mundane and appears to be stuck in a rut- this idea is cemented by the regular rhyme scheme and final rhyming couplet. it focuses on the man himself
- part two is written from a lighthouse keeper and focuses on nature, unlike part one there are few personal pronouns and is written in celebration of the sea
- part three is written from the viewpoint of a cambridge prof. it is written in a much less accessible way and the man doesnt appear isolated as he says 'we' although as a group, he and the other profs are isolated in society. part three is full of irony as although the prof seems learned by using latinate words- 'pudendum mulieris' actually refers to 'lady parts' (sorry to call it lady parts) and a 'jordan' is a chamber pot- so it is subtly crude.
BUT
- the key thing about livings is the pattern that all the sections follow of using the theme of isolation and moving from small to large.
- all the characters are isolated because of their positions- 1 is unhappy as he inherited the job of salesman from his father, 2 is happy as he is with nature and 3 is part of an exclusive group.
- moving from small to large, 1 starts with surroundings in hotel and ends looking at the world. 2 starts looking at the sea and ends with 'worlds westwards' the traditional direction for people aspiring to and starting a new life. 3 looks at their society in the uni and ends looking at the stars.
i hope that helps- i was quite angry last year that there were no Larkin york notes as the poems are quite obscure. in my exam i answered a question on only one poem so i felt like all my other notes were a bit of a waste of time.
hope it helps x and you can stop hitting your head against the wall